Easy Way For Golfers To Improve Their Aim

How Golfers Can Stop Making The Same Mistakes With Aim

It can be frustrating when you believe you are doing the right thing to correct a shot which you know is a bit wayward. Maybe it is adjusting your stance or the angle of the club to compensate to get the ball to go where you want it too.

Fortunately there is a fairly easy solution for any golfer to rectify the problem because aim has been set up the wrong way to begin with. There are 2 fundamental points that need to be correct to achieve the desired direction of the the shot. First the aim or direction of the club and alignment of the body relative to the aim.

It may seem a little strange to begin with aligning the club and body in a different position to previous stances, aiming at your target, but doing it consistently will give you the improvement in accuracy of the shot. As with most things in life its a case of practise makes perfect.

I’ve often said I would hate to be at a rifle range with a bunch of golfers; someone would get shot. That’s because golfers tend to have the most crooked aim of players in any sport, and there’s good reason for that. If you tend to curve the ball right, you’ll aim left. If you tend to curve the ball left, you’ll aim right. Now that isn’t always a bad thing… in fact, it’s often quite functional.

But before I discuss “proper” aim and alignment, versus just band-aids for the issue, let’s establish the difference between the two.

Aim: The position of the club face at address. It can be aimed at the target, or left or right of it.

Alignment: The position of the body at address. It can be parallel to the flight line, left of it or right of it.

Notice that the ONLY thing looking at the target, or the desired start line, is the club face. It’s never the body.

The relationship between the body and the club face is often underestimated, and club face aim is critical to aligning the body correctly. For example, when I teach brand-new golfers and actually aim the club face for them, they almost instinctively align their body correctly.

The relationship between club face aim, body alignment and backswing is critical. Here’s why:

If you set up with the face closed, your alignment will tend to be square to the club face and therefore open to the target. Your backswing will also tend to start back too far to the outside.

If you set up with the face open, your alignment will tend to be square to the club face and closed to the target. Your backswing will also tend start too far inside.

How do I know this? I have seen it for years and years. And I’m not merely referring to high-handicap players, either; the same is true for the best players I teach.

The mistakes we all make in golf are the result of a vicious cycle. Something as innocent as aiming the face right or left of target starts a chain reaction from which we often cannot recover.

Below are a few common examples. I have seen these patterns repeated ad infinitum, and they all this start with a mis-aimed club face at address.

When the club face is set closed, often the rear shoulder gets too high, the grip can get too weak and the ball position can get too far forward.

With the club face open, the trail side can get too low, the ball position can get too far back and the grip can get too strong.